Bishen Singh Bedi - The legend .. No holds barred

BS Bedi is considered one of the finest slow left arm bowlers to have ever graced a cricket field. Al though most of us here on teencricketforums.com haven't had the fortune of watching him spin his magic on bamboozled batsmen, we now get the chance to listen to his no hold barred analysis which are entertaining to say the least..

Bedi was critical of Chappell’s praise as he felt it put undue pressure on a bowler with the experience of just three first-class matches. "I read his [Chappell’s] column and listened to his comments about Harmeet Singh during the U-19 World Cup. I laughed uproariously about his remarks about Harmeet. Let me say two things - Harmeet is undoubtedly very talented and a huge prospect for the future but let him first play and perform in first-class cricket and international cricket. Why distract the kid and put burden on him right away? There's a massive gulf between U-19 cricket and first-class cricket and further between first-class cricket and international cricket," he said.

"My second point is, why do we take foreigners so seriously? I have a lot of admiration for Ian Chappell and his cricketing acumen but I couldn't understand why the media is making a huge brouhaha about Chappell's comments? Do we need Chappell to certify the talent of our cricketers? Before few days no one knew about Harmeet and after Chappell's remarks, media and people are going berserk.Chappell is no God-send."

Bedi, 65, felt that Harmeet was a talent to watch out for but cautioned of the difficult road ahead. “He's definitely very talented. He has lovely flight and beautiful action. But there have been many talented spinners before him," said Bedi. "How he graduates to the next well and adds more variety to his repertoire will determine his longevity and success. They key is not to be distracted with money, fame and other external factors, and keep working diligently. It is easier said than done, though."

The former India captain was also ready for advice, should Harmeet approach him. "I watched him closely and there are few points which I've noted about his bowling. If he comes to me, I'll tell him some key areas where he needs to work on. There are few changes he could make to become a better bowler and these are the changes which could be easily made at this stage so that they would not hassle him in the future."

"I am proud of the U-19 World Cup winning team and heartily wish each member of the squad but BCCI's decision is absolutely ridiculous, totally rubbish," he said. "It sends the wrong message. These are not professional cricketers. Most of them have not even played first-class cricket and they all are very young. By giving each member 20 lakhs the BCCI is spoiling their mind. From now, they'll not think much of or won't accept any monetary reward less than 20 lakhs."The focus would be more on money and less on cricket. I don't blame these kids. If such filthy amount of money is given to them at this age, it is bound to breed complacency and arrogance which are not good for their cricketing future. Would the BCCI take the blame if most of these cricketers fade away without leaving much impact? If the BCCI wanted to encourage them, they could have organized a felicitation ceremony to honour them and given gifts. The reward of 20 lakhs is a very short-sighted decision by the BCCI."

On Harbhajan Singh : "Every cricketer has a shelf-life. One could stretch it if they're Sachin Tendulkar. But unfortunately Harbhajan is not Tendulkar. I don't think he has anything left in him to offer to Indian cricket," he said. "He has rendered fine service to Indian cricket over the last decade but his time is up now. I keep hearing that he snapped up three wickets and five-wicket hauls in county cricket. But what is the quality of teams, he's playing against? Has he set the county circuit ablaze?"

What a legend!

On Ojha :

Bedi was also dismissive of the achievements of Pragyan Ojha, the Test spinner who formed a major part of India’s innings victory over New Zealand on Sunday. "Ojha is no bowler. He's a downright chucker."

Harby**** has been **** at Essex. Playing division two country cricket, he's averaged 33, and people are saying he should be back in the test side?

Indian fans must have low expectations...

People who have done better for Essex this year include 18 year old Topley and 20 year old Mills.

He started out not so great, but he's been putting in some solid performances as of late...bowled well on a flat pitch against Glamorgan.

I can only tolerate so much of Bishan Singh Bedi. He thinks he's an intellectual when he's not. He has never been willing to revise his view of Murali to the point where it's purely character assassination. Just because Murali had an unorthodox action, didn't mean he was chucking: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDxRhcpBZio. Yet nothing will ever convince Bish.

Everyone knows I'm not a big fan of t20...but when Bishan was giving an interview along with Sobers, Bishan, in the most unintelligent of ways, dismissed t20, simply saying that it wasn't proper cricket (vulgar was the term he used if I remember correctly).

Bishan just wants to be a purist for the sake of being a purist. #lazythinking

So, a former cricketer doesn't even have a right to give opinion on a cricketer from another nation? Obviously, Chappell was keeping eye on the U-19 World Cup (he may have been doing commentary for ESS; I didn't see even one ball being bowled of the tournament), so he gave out his viewpoint.

A foreigner is entitled to his opinion in a field in which he's an expert. He didn't give out any opinion on Indo-Aus diplomatic relations. Bedi's comments, in that case, would have carried some weight.

A foreigner's opinion is heartily welcome, simply because our Indian experts harbor no opinion of other cricketing nations. Look out for the Indian writers on Cricinfo, have a look at their opinion pieces, and judge for yourself of what I am talking about.

Bedi feels that it is the ICC which has created problems by allowing the 15-degree concession to the bowlers. “How can you continue with this nonsense? One should put an end to this farce. It’s ICC’s prerogative to react. Saeed Ajmal’s is case of ‘chucking’ I feel. If you look at the way he is bowling, he doesn’t need a run-up to bowl. He can stand and simply throw the ball just like you play darts,” Bedi said.

“You have allowed someone like Muttiah Muralitharan and that’s where the problem started. Can anyone with naked eye be able to conclude whether the arm is bending at less or more than 15 degrees?”

Bedi’s former colleague Prasanna too blamed it on the ICC and said the governing body should take note. “Saeed’s action is certainly a problem but then the ICC has allowed him to bowl so it is ‘fair’ in that sense. As far as we know, bending the elbow more than 15 degrees is not permissible in the ICC rules. But this fellow himself said that he has been allowed a 23-degree bend,” Prasanna said.

"Malinga is slinger not 'chucker'-nevermind Murali & Akhtar,there are still plenty of their ilk around-counted 15 in T20 WC!!" he tweeted on Friday.Bedi, who is known for his uninhibited comments, created a furore when he called Muralitharan's 800 Test wickets as 800 "run-outs". This after calling the Sri Lankan a "javelin-thrower". It invited a scathing reaction from the Sri Lankan legend who called Bedi an "ordinary spinner" and his achievements "average"."He should think about himself first rather than talking about other people," Muralitharan had said. "He did not have any variation. He just bowled left-arm spin and pitch did the variation for him. That is what he bowled."